Skuta Bivouac, Slovenia: Building the 2015 Alpine Shelter for Climbers

At 2,045 metres below Skuta, the third-highest peak of Slovenia's Kamnik Alps, a small angular shelter now gives climbers a place to wait out the weather. The bivouac was flown into place by an army helicopter in 2015, replacing an old shelter that had stood on the same spot for about 50 years.

Skuta and the Kamnik–Savinja Alps

Skuta rises to 2,532 m in the Kamnik–Savinja Alps of northern Slovenia, above the Kamniška Bistrica valley. Below the summit lies the Skuta Glacier, the easternmost glacier in the Alps. The bivouac is managed by the Ljubljana Matica Alpine Club (PD Ljubljana Matica), which also runs a mountain lodge below the peak.

A bivouac like this is an unstaffed emergency and overnight shelter for mountaineers on the high routes, not a hut with a warden or meals. For current conditions and whether it is open, check with the Alpine Association of Slovenia (PZS) and PD Ljubljana Matica before you go.

Designed by Harvard students and OFIS Architects

The shelter began as a student project. Frederick Kim, Katie MacDonald and Erin Pellegrino drew up the first design in the "Habitation in Extreme Environment" studio at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in autumn 2014, taught by Rok Oman and Špela Videčnik of the Ljubljana practice OFIS Architects. OFIS then developed it into a buildable shelter, with structural engineering by AKT II in London (Hanif Kara and Edward Wilkes), local engineer Projecta and consultant Anže Čokl of Freeapproved, who shared the photographs.

Three modules for eight climbers

The 12 m² shelter is split into three modules so it could be carried in parts and so each part has its own job:

• Entrance module: gear storage and a counter for preparing food.
• Middle module: benches for sitting together, which also serve as sleeping space.
• Rear module: a raised bunk platform for sleeping.

Up to eight mountaineers can sleep inside. The outer shell is made of thin glass-fibre concrete panels, the glazing is triple-pane, and stone wool insulation keeps the interior warm. Pin connections anchor it to the rock while disturbing the ground as little as possible.

A one-day helicopter installation

Getting the modules up to 2,045 m was the hardest part. A Slovenian Armed Forces helicopter flew in the materials, the Ljubljana station of the Mountain Rescue Service rigged the loads, and the alpine section of PD Ljubljana Matica removed the old bivouac, prepared the site and assembled the new one. More than sixty people, most of them volunteers, took part, and transport and installation were completed in a single day. Anže Čokl published the building story in August 2015.

For a closer look at the architecture, read how the Skuta shelter’s three modules work. For another small human presence in a vast Alpine scene, see Lukas Furlan’s French Alps photographs.

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